The Austerity Program - Bible Songs 1 REVIEW

Perhaps more than any other style of music, metal and its adjacent subgenre bear a long and complicated history with religion, specifically Christianity. If you asked most people on the street what they knew about metal, the probable most common answer would include “noisy” and “Satan” or “The devil”. Historically many artists have been content in using cliché imagery and variations on the phrase “God is bad, Satan is good” for a simple yet effective denouement of Christ and his followers. Since the genre's inception, this has tended to be the case. With Bible Songs 1, New York-based math noise veterans The Austerity Program provides a more nuanced take on their critique of the Bible and the teachings it preaches.

Each of the six tracks on Bible Songs 1 offers a modern retelling of some of the darker passages from the Old Testament. Justin Foley, vocalist and guitarist for the group, spent over three years reading the Bible in preparation for the bands most recent release. In an interview with GetAlternative, Foley said this on the gruesome stories which inspired the album: “Fuck that, that is sick and wrong, what the hell is wrong with these people? What lesson is this story intending to teach me?” The backbone of Abrahamic religion for much of the Western world is made up of some truly desolate subject matter, and when viewed in a modern light, can come across as blatantly morose. Justin and bandmate Thad utilize the destitute topics to further enhance already strong noise compositions to even greater unsettling heights.

            
The uncanny valley is a psychological term used to explain why humans find things disturbing. In short, the concept revolves around the idea that the closer something is to resembling a human - while still distinctly inhuman – the more terrifying it is. This is true for the modern interpretation of a zombie; while almost mimicking a human in stature and appearance, it is still a terrifying and foreign entity. The Austerity Program accomplish a similar phenomenon through their atonal compositions on Bible Songs 1. The tracks on this album all follow recognizable song structures, but each one feels uncomfortably different. 

With genres like death and black metal, it is easy to put them in their own sonic box away from listenable to most people. However, this album toes the line beautifully, as it has discernable hooks and melodies, but still remains very hard to listen to due to its unique noisy abrasiveness and dissonant guitar lines. Whether it is the wall of noise from the guitars or the math-esque time signatures, Bible Songs 1 is not easy-listening, even for a fan of the harsher side of music. This is further intensified by the band's use of a drum machine in place of a live drummer. The tone is great, but it is one of the perfect representations of the uncanny valley on this album; while it sounds real, there is something distinctly different about it that makes the listener wince at each snare hit. 

"Isaiah 63:2-6" is a violent and rumpus opening track, describing a dialogue between Isaiah and the Messiah. Isaiah asks why the Messiah's robe is spattered red, to which he responds that in his rage alone, he crushed and trampled his enemies, and his robe is stained by the blood of all of those who rejected and hated him. When the Messiah saw that none of his followers wanted to aid him in this, he brought Armageddon to the non-believers. The story is a representation of the Messiah in the future, specifically on Judgment Day, after he has killed millions due to the fact that his followers wouldn't help him do so, therefore he took his rage into his own hands. 

Oddly, this is the tamest and most confusing of the stories modernized in the album, and the music is similarly less aggressive than the rest of the tracks. It opens with a piercing guitar line of repeated notes and a groovy drum pattern. Soon after, a thick bassline is added to the track, creating a deliciously dissonant soup of noise. Over a curt three and a half minutes, the repeated notes shift up and down in intervals, and the bass and drums become far more chaotic, and the vocals uncomfortably croon and shriek as the pace picks up and everything becomes harsher. However, this track also introduces the listener to the catchy "melodies" of The Austerity Program. While not traditional in their listenability, the guitar lines are almost as hooky as the many vocal quotables on the album, and will absolutely get stuck in your head after listening enough times.

The Sovereign Lord endorsing the sacrifice of humans to animals is explored in "Ezekiel 39:17-20", and the shortest track on the album has a lot to offer. The song opens with a guitar line almost as sing-songy as it is dissonant. Even more chaotic and frantic as the previous track, the vicious double-bass drums pound as the wretchedly heavy bass churns the mix into the mud. Thad Calabrese's bass is prominent in most of the songs on this release, as it is almost always mixed slightly louder than the shrieking guitars, which gives the entire twenty-three minutes a very visceral and dirty feeling.

One of the more addicting cuts to listen to on the album, "2 Kings 25:1-7" tells the tale of the fall of King Zedekiah of Jerusalem, whose city was kept under siege for two years by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah was then captured, brought before the Babylonian throne, to watch his sons be slaughtered before him prior to his enucleation. "2 Kings" not only contains TWO (yes two) of the best climaxes on the album,  it also remains relentless in its abrasiveness and intensity. The first "breakdown" after Zedekiah's sons are slaughtered is easily the most chaotic moment on the album with an unyielding flurry of instrumentation after Foley's first scream. The double-kick drum also rears its ugly, computerized head on this track, supporting Calabrese's rumbling bass, thumping across the track like an obscenely overweight rabbit. On top of this, the third cut also has its fair share of memorable vocal lines, from "Tears fall from holes where his eyes once were" and "Sometimes...kings get...BORED". This is easily one of the heaviest and best songs on this album, and one of my favorite songs of the year.

Most know the story of the Exodus, where known figure Moses attempts to free the Hebrews from under the Egyptian Pharoah's tyrannical slavery, and if you don't, go watch The Prince of Egypt. The passage that is highlighted in particular on this track actually takes after that event, in the second book following the Book of Exodus; Numbers. "Numbers 31:13-18" tells of Moses and the Israelites initiating and succeeding in a holy war against the Midianites. Moreover, in "Numbers 31" Moses commands the soldiers to kill the remaining women and young men of the people, and to take the young women personal slaves for the commanders. Easily one of the more hard-hitting and brutal tracks on the album, the song begins with a repeated tremolo line with constant drum hits, which create a hypnotic setting with Justin's almost spoken vocals. Thad enters soon with an odd but eerie sound of tuning the bass mid-song, as the drums pick up with rapid snare and cymbal hits. The song becomes almost silent as Justin mutters over silence, and soon enough the song picks up again with a faster but similar hypnotic rhythm. Soon after this, the most epic and climactic moment on the entire album arrives. Upon Foley's shout of "SHIT!", the bass explodes with a massive low and trudging quarter note pattern as shouts of "MOSES", "WHAT THE FUCK" and "HAVE YOU DONE" ring out as the drums help the bass close out the song. 

God gets kinky on this next track, personifying Jerusalem as a young woman whoring and debauching herself, and therefore subsequently taking her children, burning her people, and oh, of course, making her cut off her own breasts. "Ezekiel 23:31-35" is an intense and quickly paced track, similar to "2 Kings" and "Ezekiel 39" before it, complete with blasting drums, dissonant guitar intervals, and thumping bass. Two breakdowns exist in this track's short three and a half minute runtime, the first of which sounds like someone needed to reset the drum machine, and the second following perhaps the most quotable line of the album, "WHEN LIGHTS OUT, YOU WILL BE DONE". The use of dynamics during this climactic build-up is of particular note, as the sudden drop in decibels grows and grows to an explosive conclusion. The noisy and chaotic sections that follow consist of the jarring and uncomfortable tones and performances we have seen executed immaculately earlier on the release.

Finally, we close with "2 Samuel 6:16-23", where David is condemned by Saul's daughter Michael for streaking in front of the handmaids of the temple, and in turn, God takes away her ability to have children and she dies alone. The track starts at a blistering speed, but slows down to a pace similar to "Numbers 31", with Foley's vocals screaming over and the rumbling instrumentation. The track then picks up with an ascending guitar melody about halfway through, which continues to climb until it shrieks above the rest of the track. It slows again, holding out sour notes while the drum machine fills the space of the squawking lead, which picks up again to close out the song with a powerful, pounding flurry of instrumentation, finished with Foley's somewhat ironic scream, "SO IT'S DONE".

While astonishingly short, The Austerity Program manages to cram some of the most boggling and overwhelming music into this short LP.  It's rare that musicians in the heavier subgenres can portray such a difficult and nuanced take of Christianity. This album manages to do so adeptly with its blend of tempestuous math noise and an engaging subject matter. Constantly engaging from start to finish, Bible Songs 1 is one of the best noise releases of the year that will challenge even the most avid harsh music listener front to back.

Final Score: "When I put on my codpiece, mascara, and assless chaps, baby you gotta know it's pretty"
Favorite Tracks: "2 Kings 25:1-7", "Numbers 31:13-18"